The Oracle of Respuestas Ocultadas
by skipdale
Summary: Jack has been given a shiny gold stick by Tia Dalma, but what powers does it secretly hold. And whilst he looks for the answer, will he find something he has never come across before?
1. Port Velease

**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately and regrettably I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean, but I am planning to lure Jack away with a lot of rum

**Chapter 1 -The Jewel of Port Valease **

"Bugger," Jack muttered "Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger!"

Jack had never been good at avoiding trouble, in fact he was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, but this time it seems he was in a little over his head ('little' here means about 10 metres or so).

Ana - Maria scowled at her captain "I told ye not to mess with that Admiral, but oh-no, you're Captain Jack Sparrow aren't ye, ye thought everything would be tickety-boo!?!"

"Well I didn't think -"

"No, I know ye bleedin' didn't! Why else would we be locked in this bloody cell?"

"No, wait let me finish! I didn't think that you would be thick enough to get caught, honestly!" Jack says venomously.

"Well, sorry for me 'avin' faith in ye to distract the guards or at least the Admiral, but oh-no you can't even do that! Ooh, how I wish I had my stick!" Ana - Maria said slouching in the corner of the cell.

"What so you could hit me over the head with it?" Jack supposed, thinking how great it would be to break that friggin' stick of hers.

"Aye! It might knock some bleedin' sense into ye!"

(Ana - Maria had a special stick that she used to hit people with, namely Jack, when he was being a prat or if the crew were being particularly thick, being very annoying or just generally not getting on with stuff.)

Jack huffed and shut up, trying to find a comfortable place to sit on the slightly bumpy ground.

'_It's all his fault anyway!' _Ana - Maria thought.

* * *

3 days earlier 

The Pearl smoothly sailed through the calm Caribbean waters towards Port Valease, with her Captain at the helm talking to his first and second mate.

"So, whilst I talk to him you go into the vault an' take the emerald as fast as you can and leg it outta there, after about an hour I'll excuse myself an' meet you back here as fast you can, got it? And you Gibbs make sure that the pearl is ready to make sail and look after it while I'm gone"

They both nodded, but Gibbs asked "But what's so special about this emerald, Capt'n?"

"This emerald will fit perfectly into the top of that little present Tia Dalma gave me!"

" Oo, you mean the shiny gold stick?" Ana - Maria asked

"Aye, but it isn't just any old gold stick."Jack said mysteriously.

"Are you going to tell us what's so special about the gold stick?"

"Maybe." Jack said airily, dismissing them both, but Ana - Maria came back and asked "Jack, what exactly are ye going to talk about for an hour with this guy?"

"First, my dear Ana - Maria, it's Captain, _CAP-TAIN,_ say it."

"Cap-tain" Ana - Maria said with veiled sarcasm "So answer my question then."

"What question?" Ana- Maria now knew that Jack was doing this just to wind her up.

"About how you think you will be able to hold an intelligent conversation with the Admiral for an hour while I get the emerald." She said through slightly gritted teeth, thinking that now would be a great time to get out her stick.

"No worries there, luv, me an' Admiral Worthington go back along way."

* * *

Little Later 

The Pearl was safely docked off the coast of Port Velease and Jack was making his way towards a large stately- home type house that stood over- looking the town. Soon enough he both reached the large, oak front doors and after three swift knocks, he was quickly ushered inside by an elderly butler and taken to the drawing room, where the Admiral waited.

Ana - Maria also made her path to the house, but instead of taking the path to the back door, she followed one to the left of the house, to the vaults. Kicking open the old wooden door violently, Ana - Maria crept into the darkness. Making her way through the thin passage, she soon came across a plain iron door, (the type that looked as though it hadn't been opened for decades and there was no chance of opening any time soon) with three different keyholes and another wooden door, with an old rusty lock, opposite.

Assuming that it was the metal door that opened into the vaults, Ana - Maria started to pick the first lock, on the left. After a short while she heard the lock open and began on the middle one. The middle one was far more trickier than the first one, but after 15 minutes of no avail it finally unlocked. The last one, as Ana - Maria expected, was the hardest to open, "Damn!" she cursed as both of the needles she was using to pick the lock snapped. She quickly took two hair pins out of her hair and attempted to use them. After another 20 minutes she started to panic, she only had 15 minutes left to go in, get the emerald and get out, back to the Pearl. Unthankfully her hard work paid off, when finally, after about another 5 minutes, the metal door opened full to reveal...

...a brick wall. "Shit! Well that was a bloody waste of time!" She had only 10 minutes left and still she hadn't found the vaults, nevermind the actual emerald, this wasn't going well. Spinning round, she faced the wooden door, wondering if that was, in fact, the vaults. Snapping out of her little daydream, Ana - Maria hastily opened the door by, again, kicking it in.

The door flew into the large octagonal room it opened into. On each wall were 8 different metal doors. "Great! Which one do I open then, I've only got 5 minutes!" she questioned out-loud, "Ok, there's only one way to do this... Ip, dip, sky blue, granny sitting on the loo, singing songs, dropping bombs, out goes you!" she said pointing at each door as she said the words (me: do you get that? It's fairly hard to explain!). Swiftly moved to the last door she picked and hurriedly picked the lock. Pushing open the door, she ran into the room and Ana - Maria's face lit up when she saw that, indeed, she picked the right door. In the middle of the darkened room she saw, standing on a marble stand, a beautiful, bright green emerald. Quickly stuffing it in her pocket, Ana - Maria ran out of the room, though the wooden door and along the passage way and straight into two guards.

Meanwhile Jack was sitting in the magnificent drawing room of the mansion, listening to the Admiral, who had talked none stop for the last hour about everything from flowers to ships, all from the one question Jack asked when they first sat down "So, how are ye, mate?"

Jack had got so bored that he had started to count how many trees he could see out of the window. Suddenly he saw Ana - Maria sprinting across the freshly manicured lawns, followed by 2 burly guards. Being so intent on watching Ana - Maria running, Jack nearly fell out of his chair, whilst following her with his eyes. Noticing Jack was staring out of the window rather than listening to him, the Admiral turned to look out of the window, but lucky Jack turned his attention back to the Admiral before he fully turned round.

"Ha!" Jack shouts at him, getting the Admirals attention back to him and away from the window, "Ha - How did you manage to become Admiral then?"

"Well," said the Admiral, turning back to Jack, "After the battle of Foxup." '_Hallelujah!'_ Jack thought, thankful that he had got the Admiral talking again.

'_Oh SHIT!'_ Jacks thoughts went from good to bad as he saw one of the guards leaping onto Ana-Maria's back, pinning her to the ground. "Well, mate, as much I like this little reunion, I must return into my ship." Jack said quickly, hoping to get out of there before the guards brought in Ana-Maria, who was currently having her hands shackled together.

The Admiral looked dissappointed, mostly because Jack had interrupted him, not because Jack was leaving "Well, if you must! But remember, come back anytime for a little chat!" Both the Admiral and Jack rose from their seats, gave each other a manly hand-shake and walked out of the drawing room and into the reception room where waiting for them were...

... the guards with Ana - Maria. A look of horror came across Jacks face, but went as quick as it came.

"What's this then?" the Admiral addressed the guards.

"This wench was trying to steal that emerald, Sir." said the guard on the left, trying to stop Ana - Maria squirming out of his grip.

"Well you're a brave lass, I'll give you that!" he said circling her as if they were wild animals, and she was his prey "Well, what's your reason for attempting to take such a fine jewel?"

"I was given orders to get it from my captain." she said with a small smile. Jack glared at her, almost telling her not to put him in it, but she just stared defiantly at the Admiral.

"And who is said captain?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow."

Present Day (as the day the story started, not as in today, today, obviously)

"Ye know ye didn't 'ave to say I wa' ye captain ye know!"

"Well, if I was going down I was taking you with me!

"Umm, well, thanks a lot, luv! Now we're both inside a cell, without anyone to save us 'cause the crew is floating a mile off shore. An' of course it's much better now rather than before when you could have been in the cell on your own an' then I broke you out. Honestly, Ana- Maria, think ahead next time!" Jack said quickly, in nearly one breath, slowly getting louder so that the last sentence was in fact a yell.

"Sorry." Ana - Maria said in a small voice.

Soon a silence filled the cell as both the occupants fell into a restless sleep.


	2. Buchanan

**Chapter Two ****– Buchanan**

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

"Bloody Hell!" Jack shouted, getting a tad annoyed. Not only was it about 3 o'clock in the morning, but the prison guards weren't half banging about up at the fort and Jack had just had enough and, as his crew knows, little or no sleep makes Jack a smidgen irritable.

"What the hell is going on?" Ana- Maria had obviously also woken too.

"I have no idea, but do you think it is physically possible to make more noise than that?"

"I very much doubt it, sounds as though they are trying to arrest someone maybe." She said standing on the old wooden bench in the corner on the cell, so that she could look out of the window.

The shouts, gunshots and running of the soldiers could even be heard at the level that she and Jack were on, on the other side of the port.

**"****Hurrah!" **came a shout, clearly from the soldiers.

"Sounds like they got the poor bugga!" Jack says grimly "Maybe we can get some sleep now, because _some_ of us have to think of a way to escape because a _certain somebody _got them thrown in jail, but I shalt divulge their names."

Ana – Maria just stared blankly at him. She knew exactly what he was getting at and she wasn't the only one to blame, but she didn't have time to retaliate because a thundering of footsteps started down the steps into the jail.

Jack and Ana- Maria turned round to see 10 or so soldiers coming into view, the one at the back holding onto the shackled prisoner, undoubtedly the one they have just captured.

Both Jack's and Ana – Maria's eyebrow raised at least 3 cm when they saw that the person who had caused such commotion was a 5 foot 6 woman dressed in blue pants, brown boots, a large white shirt (me: pirate-type shirt thing…you know what I mean), blue waistcoat, a large brown belt and red sash around their waist and slightly curly (me: wavy basically but with a few curls, like mine:D) dark brown/coppery hair and eyes that could change colour, from blue, green, turquoise, brown, grey and even two at once (me: like me again, so yeah this character is gonna be based on me), although at the moment they could not see her face fully as she was in the shadows. She wore no coat or hat and had her sword and pistol tucked into her sash. Her sleeves were rolled up and on her right wrist, a pirate brand could clearly be seen, as well as a tattoo depicting two mermaids holding up the globe.

The first soldier hastily unlocked the cell, and the pirate was shoved inside and the door was locked again and the keys given to the dog. As the soldiers filed back up the stairs, the outlaw stood on the bench, like Ana- Maria did before, and looked out of the window, towards the harbour.

"Oh, bloody nice that is! Yep, there they go!" she mutters and turns rounds and plonks her self down on the bench with a soft thump, her face now fully in the light.

"Charlie!" Ana-Maria gasps loudly. The pirate looks round towards her, her eyes widen and she gasps also "Well, well, if it isn't Ana – Maria Johansson! How you doin mate?" she says with a hearty grin, walking towards the grate that partitioned the cells and sat down beside her, "Found that bugger yet who stole ya boat?"

"Aye I did!" she replies, tilting her head towards Jack, who, at the moment, looks at mix between confused and annoyed.

"Oh… Ummm... Sorry, mate. You would be Captain Sparrow then?"

Jack perked up abit; well he was happy that she put the Captain in his name. "Aye, luv, I would." He said with a gold-tooth smirk, "And you would be?"

"Captain Charlotte Buchanan of the _Swift Fortune_, at yer service mate!" she says with a mock salute and she put her hand between one on the gaps and Jack shook it well, '_Ah, that would explain the 'Charlie'. _He thought.

"Although I not much of the Captain of the _Swift Fortune _at the moment," She says with a huff, "sitting in what they may call a cell, but honestly it wouldn't even past as a pig sty, with my crew, on my ship sailing away now they've realised that something has gone wrong and are all to happy to leave their captain to be captured by't Navy. My crew never were good at timing, I wanna know whose bright idea it was to mutiny night, bet it was Naylor, he was allus a bugger or maybe Clarke he wa a bit shifty." She says slightly going into her own world. "So what ya doing here Ana?"

Ana told her the story about the Admiral and the Emerald, "God, that's weird!" Charlie says when she has finished "The emerald was why I came to Port Velease too. I was meant to get it for this gypsy – witch woman I know."

"Tia Dalma?" Jack said, suddenly more interesting in what she was saying.

"Aye, you know her too?"

They both nodded their heads.

"Umm…well not much we can do about it now, especially since it is on its way to Lord Beckett. Anyway back to us being trapped in this cell, actually wait a minute…." She said getting up, she walked to the door, put two fingers in her mouth and whistled for the dog.

Jack shook his head watching her trying to coax the door from down the corridor "No matter how much you do that, it is never going to work."

Charlie turned around and gave him a disbelieving look and said "O ye of little faith!" and with that she turned back to the door and shouted "Fido! Come here Fido!" and sure enough the little hound bounded towards her.

She patted the dog on the head took the keys out of its mouth and turned smugly towards Jack "That, sir, is how it's done!" she says with a bow.

Ana-Maria laughed and said "Charlie are you gonna stand there looking smug or are you gonna let us out?"

Soon enough all three pirates were out and got their effects off the wall – pegs, and made it sharpish down to the docks.

"Where now?" Charlie asked.

Jack smirked at her, as the three got into a little fishing boat that they had found, "To the Black Pearl, luv."


	3. Butternut Squash

**OK it's been ages since I updated, but I've been really busy, so enjoy, and please some reviews!!!**

**Chapter 3 - Butternut Squash**

'Capt'n.'

'Aye.'

'That's a woman.' Gibbs said motioning to Charlie, standing behind Jack, on the deck of the _Pearl, _surrounded by the rest of the crew.

'Aye it is.' Jack gestured for the crew to move, as they did, and went to the helm.

'But, Capt'n, we, the crew that is, including myself, were lead to believe that you had gone ashore to get something a little more…special, not just a woman.'

'Right first, my name isn't woman, it's Charlie,' she said stepping forward as the crew turned to face her, 'And two, I'm actually quite insulted that you don't think I'm special, since I am the one that knows where the thing you thought your Captain was getting is, after he obviously ran into abit of trouble and generally cocked it up, for want to a better phrase and it being shipped of to somewhere completely for protection against other people getting it, since two different people had tried to get it in as many days and so very nearly succeeding.'

'Here, here.' Ana Maria half-heartedly cheered, seeing the look on Mr. Gibbs' face (and the rest of the crew for that matter), that could only possibly described as slightly stunned, although a few look as though they were possibly mulling over what she said.

'Aye' Mr. Gibbs said shaking his head slightly, 'Where to Capt'n?' he said turning back to Jack, who had been viewing the transaction from infront of the helm.

Raising an eyebrow slightly and tilting his to the side 'Where to Miss. Buchanan?'

'It's Captain,' she answered walking up the steps to the helm and standing next to Jack, 'And to Port Royale. '

It had been two days since Charlie joined the crew and she seemed to be getting on with everyone. Pintel and Ragetti seemed to be particularly nice to her, not that it had anything to do with her being a beautiful young woman that just happened to be on the same ship of as them . Mr. Gibbs, placing his previous misgivings aside, had actually found that he quite liked Charlie: she was smart, useful and most of all she could cook. Frankly, it wasn't just Mr. Gibbs who liked Charlie for her cooking, the whole crew did, well her food was heaven compared to Marty's poultry efforts, even though she refused point-blank to become the ships cook, but did say 'I'll cook for the lads when they deserve it, or when I'm feeling nice.'

Currently she was fixing the forestaysail halyard on the upper deck, whilst chatting away with Ana- Maria. Actually they had got a little bored and so decided to play a word game, the word game where one person says a word and the other has to say the first word that pops into their head:

'Er.. pumpkin.'

'Butternut Squash.'

'That's two words.'

'That's three.' Charlie said looking from Ana back to the rope that she was supposedly tying.

'Where did Butternut Squash come from anyway? Someone says 'Pumpkin', you think soup or All Hallows Eve, not friggin' Butternut Squash!'

'Well obviously I think Butternut Squash when you say it, don't I? Or else I wouldn't have said it in the first place. Why don't we start again, since we were doing fine until you felt the need to tell me that 'Butternut Squash' was in fact two words, not one –'

'Only because you said that the whole point of the game was to say the first word that came into your head, first WORD, not WORDS, WORD!The only way 'Butternut Squash' could be one word is if you said it 'butternutsquash'.'

'Is it just me or is the word 'Butternut Squash' soundly abit weird?'

'A. It's two words,' Ana said looking back at her friend (who she could have sweared said 'Shut up' under her breath) whilst moving crates out of the way, to the side of the ship. 'And B. yeah it is, probably because we've said it so much, it a short amount time.'

'Said what?' came a new voice into the conversation.

Turning her head to face Jack, Charlie said 'Butternut Squash.'

Jack gave them both a look 'Any particular reason for the over use of the said word?'

'No, none other than it happened to what we were talking about and somehow felt the need to repeat it at every available opportunity, even though if we didn't we'd probably still know what we were talking about, but obviously we thought that the other needed to be needed to be reminded of which word we were talking of, just in case we had a memory lapse within the 2 seconds in which nobody was talking and needed a memo of it.' Charlie said this all rather fast, without pausing for breath either, so as you can imagine she was pretty puffed-out.

'I can imagine what you were like at school.' Jack says dryly leaning on the side of the ship.

'Analytical?'

'Talkative.'

'Hmm, I can imagine what you were like.'

'What? Absent?'

'Exactly. Should you be... captaining or whatever?' she said looking back at the helm, where Mr.Gibbs was, trying to look very important, almost as if he was trying to be a captain of a ship, '_Captain Gibbs, there's a though.'_ and back to Jack.

'Well, I just wanted to see what you lovely ladies were up to.'

'What do you want Jack?' said Ana, who had so far been quite since Jack arrived.

'Ey?'

'You're being nice to us, and you're never nice to us - mostly me- unless you want something, so just spit it out before we all die of old age.'

'Since when have I been nice to you in order to get some in return.'

'The time you bought me a whole crate of rum and the told me that I had to nick that map; the time you let me run the helm for a week to get me to suck up to that Lord -which, by the way, I'll never forgive you; the time you-'

'Yes, yes, yes' Jack says quickly, noting the look that Charlie was currently giving him 'well this time, it's different, I'm being nice to you because I want to, not because I need to.'

'That does make a change.' Ana said, then noticing the large angelic smile that was plastered onto Jacks face, added 'Are you sure that there isn't a reason for your recent personality bypass?'

'Well, since you mention it...'

'Knew it, come on Charlie,' she says linking her arm though the other girls and beginning to lead her away, below deck.

'No, wait, stop!' Jack says calling after them, 'You haven't heard what it is yet' and he followed them down below deck.

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